Lilly2016

Please HELP ---- I Think I was just SCAMMED …

Last week I called Luftanza to make a reservation. The person that picked up gave me a good deal, and he said he has reserved our seats for me, took my credit card. He said he would call me on Monday to Confirm my decision with the return city. He never did, I called and they said he would call you back but he did not. I can’t get through to him. I called Condor and Luftanza and they don’t have our names (either because he is still holding seats or because it is a Scam). I checked the email they sent me .. there is No booking number and it says it is from [email protected]. I asked them 3x if they are a 3rd party or Luftanza, he kept saying they are the reservation desk for Luftanaza.

Has anyone heard of this??? I feel soooo stupid.. I was so concerned about finding a hotel with AC I didn't even doubt this phone number listed on Luftanza ... I don't know if I can find my flights anymore... It seemed right, he had the correct information and prices, but it was too good to be true.

Plsss help

MmePerdu

If it turns out you were scammed you can dispute it with your credit card and have the charge reversed. You won't lose anything. Relax.

Lilly2016

MmePerdu that's not my urgent concern.. my trip is in a few weeks and there is no availability from Florence, there is only a few business class seats Florence to Frankfurt for over $1300 pp whereas it was $200 when I was booking. I need to know if I should find new flights ... I was having trouble with finding a hotel in Switzerland... and now I have to start from zero if this was a scam, and even worse I do not even know If they are a scam or real.. I don't know if I should go ahead and book the same flights myself. They had heavy Indian accents, sounded far away but said they are calling from California, even though my caller ID said TX. I got an email but no booking number, and the airlines don't have our names.

janisj

Um . . . "Luftanza" . . . would be the first clue.

Why were you phoning since Lufthansa's (note the spelling) website lets one book without speaking to anyone? So give it up, call your credit card company to dispute any charges (use the phone number on the back of the card -- don't google for a number which may be how you got the wrong site in the first place)

janisj

Didn't see your 2nd post -- 'Indian' accent has nothing to do with anything. Many airlines have call centers on the sub-continent.

janisj

Lilly2016: I fear you may have too much on your plate with all the issues you're dealing with. You've been posting for several years and most of your threads have titles like URGENT Help, Help!!!, and Last minute trip help! so this is nothing new.

Maybe cut your losses and plan a later trip when things aren't so 'urgent'.

suze

Why were you calling anyone? Why don't you purchase your plane ticket directly from the airline directly from their website?

If you feel you were "scammed" contact your credit card company. Dispute/decline any charges.

Start over. With the airline. Or better yet postpone the trip until you are better able to plan it.

suze

Check your charge card statement online. Has a charge been put thru for the plane tickets?

Seamus

clara, is that you????

Lilly2016

janisj Fair Enough! BUT, if you'r a senior member in this group, why do you feel the need to make such harsh remarks and judgement on someone you know nothing about, but a few posts you have read.
1. This situation IS urgent - my trip was supposed to be the last two weeks of August and most of it was planned. The reason it was changed is because my father passed away unexpectedly form pancreatic cancer, and my aunt is not doing well so we had to move things up to go to Darmestadt and see her. This changed the rest of our trip due to other family schedules. It can't be put off because I want to see my family before it's too late now that my father is gone. Additionally, we went through a lot to get the time off, not knowing it would be this difficult to rebook everything.
2. I may have spelled Lufthansa wrong (which is an autocorrect on here by the way), but English is Not my first language and I did use their website, that is where I obtained the phone number. Because my flight was Multi city including Florence, I was having trouble mixing the times / dates I needed on their website with the class of seats I needed. The reservation was not going through. That is why I called them. In retrospect I do not know if I was on another site that was pretending to be Lufthansa.
3. You took the "Indian Accent" out of context. I said heavy Indian accent and sounded far away, combined with lying about their location as the caller ID was indicating something else and the call was coming in as "spam call". I did not just point out the Indian Accent.
4. As far as my other posts -- Yes, that is because I come on here for trips that I run into obstacles for and as a last desperate resort. I have met some wonderful people who have been very very helpful in teaching me how to maneuver issues I encounter with their expertise. During my trips, I thank them in my heart. This is the point of seeking help!
5. Lastly, I am not sure what you do for a living, but my husband and I are professional health care workers (front line for Covid the past 4 years) and even prior to Covid we did not have any time for trip planning, since Covid we don't even have free time most days, much less finding the time to research and plan a trip with no information, and YES I have tried to get a travel agent multiple times but we don't have any in our town right now and others are booked weeks out.

I do not feel the need to explain myself to you, but maybe it will help for you not to be so harsh or judgmental in the future to others. Please just scroll on by my future posts. I appreciate if you have helped me in the past, but I see no reason for these judgmental, hurtful comments. Why hurt someone that is already upset, what do you gain from it?
Regards, L

Lilly2016

suze Because my flight was Multi city including Florence, I was having trouble mixing the times / dates I needed on their website with the class of seats I needed. The reservation was not going through. That is why I called them. I did quickly rebook the whole thing, but I could not book the Florence part, I lost those seats on the 10:30 am.which was perfect with a 3 hour layover in Frankfurt...
I booked all the other flights though..

My options are now
1. try to see if this is a real company and if they really do have the Florence flights .. (I feel like I maybe naive, although 3rd party sites do sell these tickets) but the whole things seems really fishy now.
2. take a 6 am flight out of Florence, which means we have to be up at 1 am, because I think you have to be at the airport 3 hours earlier... with my medical issues it'll be a little hard.. and there is now a 7 hour layover in Frankfurt.
3. Change the outbound city to Rome, or Bologna or Pisa, or Venice - they all have the 10 am flight with the 3 hour layover still... but our hearts were set on Florence because we wanted to spend time in Tuscany for most of our 4 days, and just do Florence 1 day.

Need to talk to husband and figure it out, and quickly book one.

suze

But what have you been charged on your credit card? That should give you a clue as to what happened (or did not happen) from that phone call.

janisj

I am sorry my post seemed harsh. I apologize. I probably should have omitted the 'history' but my main point was that it does seem there is way too much on your plate. Almost every day a new crisis upsets you more so maybe it would be better to put everything off until you and the family are better able to cope. That is all I meant.

lavandula

Call your bank and block your credit card so they can't do any (more) damage. Explain to the bank that you were scammed and they will cancel your card and issue you with a new one. Use a different credit card and book the flight online through either a recognised travel agent like Expedia or directly with the airline. You can still book with Lufthansa. If you are looking for airfares and availability try using Skyscanner or Kayak which compile travel deals and give you the best price for various routings. If your routing is a bit complex, you might think of using a bricks and mortar travel agent because they can still get you good deals even if it looks on Skyscanner like you have to pay thousands more than the basic routing.

It happened to me about a month ago - someone went to town with my credit card number and spent four huge amounts with a gaming website based in Turkey (I have never been there or ever used a website like this). I blocked my card and the bank cancelled it and I eventually got a new card. I didn't have to pay for the transactions or the conversion fees.

Lavandula

rialtogrl

PSS travel appears to be an agency in Texas. Have you tried calling the 800 number on their website?

https://psstravel.net

I don’t think it is a scam, you booked tickets but maybe it is taking time for Lufthansa to get them the booking code. I’ve booked directly with Lufthansa and it took them a week to confirm and charge me, they are not the speediest.

Just try to call this agency or email the address they gave you which you posted above.. it’s a start.

muskoka

“Front line for Covid the past 4 years.” Four years? Where are you that Covid has been around for 4 years? My front line health care worker friends have been on the front lines for a bit over 2.

balthy

I'm not sure if it was a scam or not. Clearly it was not Lufthansa who you called but a travel agency. Airlines never say they will call you back to confirm decisions. You might have called a legitimate travel agency with IATA licence and therefore allowed to book airline tickets. Equally they might not be, it could be a scam. But not having your names for the booking etc means you do not have a booking, the TA was probably just quoting you prices for the trip but not actually booking anything. I'm sorry but the legitimate LH website would not have a telephone number to a TA, there has been some mistake here. The Contacts page on the LH website says this:

Currently, fraudulent fake pages with purported Lufthansa contacts can be found on the Internet using the standard search engines. These aim to access the (personal) details of our customers. Please only use channels listed on lufthansa.com for making contact, and enter your details only on lufthansa.com. Always access the website manually by typing in your browser’s address bar, and do not follow any link that has not been made available by Lufthansa.

The LH website publishes this tel no for their Service Center, is this what you called? 1 800 645 38 80. You can also get scammed by booking online if you are not on the correct website as per LH's message above. Always check the URL.

Airline bookings are made instantly and the booking reference is immediate. Credit card info is taken there and then but the charge might not appear for a while and the ticket itself might take a day or so to be issued, there is no such thing as the booking reference takes time to come through.

You can call LH to check if a booking is being held in your name, you can call the TA and ask what bookings are made and decide from there on what to do.

cafegoddess

Lilly2016, I really hope and wish this trip will workout for you. Try booking.com, kayak.com or Expedia.com to book your flight to Florence, you might find good fares there. Slow down, get some rest, then start looking at those sites. The best part on going on a trip is the planning. You still have time but yes you will probably pay more. Stop panicking it won’t get the job done.

I am very sorry about your father and aunt. 💜💐🙏🤞

Sassafrass

You are already getting great advice on handling the credit card.

I do not know if you have been scammed or not. This is what I “think” I see/don’t see.
PSSTravel is simply a booking company. They may or may not be legitimate, but they have absolutely NO relationship with Lufthansa, and are definitely NOT Lufthansa’s own reservation desk. I don’t see that number anywhere on Lufthansa’s website, so can’t figure out where you found it.
PSSTravel is a new site, up for around seven months, so not long enough to have an established reputation. The ownership is private, not a good thing, but not actual proof of a scam either.

Lufthansa’s website lists a customer service number. 1-800-645-3880. Enlist their help.

Now, by multi-city, for your trip to Europe and return, why go back through Frankfurt? You could just book into Frankfurt and out of Florence, Pisa or Rome back home. It looks as if you are intentionally booking back through Frankfurt. You would certainly not want to book separate tickets back to Frankfurt. Is there a purpose for that?

Also, if timing of flight out of Florence is a problem, you have some options.
1.The airport in Pisa is only a bit over an hour by train from Florence, so you could probably safely stay in Florence and catch an early train from Florence to the Pisa airport.
2. The airport in Bologna is less than an hour from Florence by train. Check available flights from there.
3. You wanted to see Lucca and Pisa anyway, so your last day, go early to Pisa, check into hotel near the station. Either go to the tower area and then back to the station and over to Lucca, or on to Lucca first and back to Pisa for the night, going down to see the tower at sunset. Catch your flight from Pisa the next morning.

There are always solutions, sometimes better and more fun than the original plan.

Use email for questions, etc. when you can. Then you are not dealing with time zones, language issues, etc.
However, if you feel you must use phones, there are really great phone plans that include super cheap international rates. With family in different countries and actually pretty frequent travel, do consider that. DD and I FT, but I talk often with my Sister in New Zealand. I think it is about .10 a minute, so seriously cheap. If my Sister and I talk for two hours, for $12.00, what a bargain!

Heimdall

Rialtogirl, PSS Travel lists its address as 1806 Hamilton, Big Spring, TX. Before you go any further, suggest you type that address in Google Maps and get the photo on street view. If this is a legitimate company it has a strange headquarters building. I don’t know if this link will work on Fodor’s, but if not go directly to Google Maps and type in the address yourself.
https://goo.gl/maps/wnPWzULQXGBz9zoU8

EDIT: Yes, it works.